Welcome to Pine Shallows, a small coastal town. A sunny and cheery tourist destination in summer, Pine Shallows empties when autumn’s chill comes. Strange things keep happening in the town’s off season, but local adults are so focused on preparing for next summer that they simply ignore or write off these strange occurrences. That’s why it’s up to you kids to get to the bottom of things. Pine Shallows is a tabletop roleplaying game inspired by The Goonies, Stranger Things, Gravity Falls and middle grade adventure book series like The Legends of Eerie-on-Sea in which you portray small town kids going on adventures and solving mysteries.
One thing I appreciate about Pine Shallows is how straightforward character creation is. You have three points to distribute as you like among three stats, pick a background – all of which have distinct perks and bonuses – and then figure out some basic character details and connections before you’re ready to play! Actions requiring a roll operate with ‘degrees of success’ and, depending on which background you take, you might have the ability to increase your result by one category: a failure can become a success with a complication, for example. I enjoy this method so much more than a flat ‘success or failure’ model.
While it is made clear that players can and should expand upon the town to suit the needs of the story, Pine Shallows comes with some small town staples familiar to its inspirations. In the town proper you’ve got the library, general store, bookshop, and arcade, while over by the beach there’s a seafood restaurant, hotel filled with guests during the summer months, an aquarium, and lighthouse. Want to go further afield? Skull Cove, Warmouth-On-Sea, and the harbour are all options to visit during your adventures!
Pine Shallows comes with a related adventure, Catch of the Day. Coming in at fifteen pages it sees the kids at the aquarium on a school trip. Completely normal, nothing unusual there! What is out of the ordinary, however, is the sort of fish-person hybrid fishermen caught a few days before and that is now on display at the aquarium. While the story can go in any direction a table wants it to, the suggested main objective is to help this creature break out! With a map, several pages of clues, and an alarm system made using progress trackers, this fun little adventure will hopefully see the kids with a new friend beneath the waves.
You can pick up Pine Shallows for $15USD on Itch.
That’s all for this week! Until next time, stay cozy, and if you want to join your companions around the cauldron, signup for email updates below!
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